Tag: All My Films

In the Fast and the Furious franchise, the most common word uttered is “family.” It is used more frequently than “Corona” or “car” because this world that Vin Diesel runs is bizarrely sincere. Even as cars fall out of planes or burst through skyscrapers, there is the idea that all of this is happening because of the characters’ love for each other. Whether or not that is effective will be a conversation for the other films. Why 2 Fast 2 Furious is my pick for the worst in the franchise is because it abandoned that heart. Continue reading

“What are The 39 Steps?” It is the question that is shouted at the climax of the movie and is the question that is ever-present for all the scenes leading up to it. It is the question that led mild-mannered Richard Hannay to be on the run for his innocence and it is the question that is causing mysterious men to act towards murder. Is the answer to the question satisfying? Sure, but it’s really one of the first examples where Alfred Hitchcock argues that it really doesn’t matter.

Fiction can be serve as a mirror to look back at ourselves or it can be used to make a world dramatically different than what we experience. The closer you get to reality, the more unnerving the experience can be. A fear I have is to have my fate be decided by twelve strangers. Just like we want for our President or teachers, we want the jury to be smartest set of 12 people that ever were assembled, because it’s your life on the line.

Every time I see 8 1/2, I feel I’m seeing a new film. When I was a teenager I saw it bemoaning the life of a film director and an artist. A few years ago, I saw it and I kept focusing on the technical aspects. It’s a word that always seems to be in motion, stillness is only allowed through hideaway character reactions.